Welcome to pilot episode, or probably better to call it Episode Zero of EV News China – a limited-run of podcasts I’ll be doing from next Monday and then every weekday in July.
I’ll be sharing insights into China's EV revolution for listeners worldwide.
I'm Martyn Lee, and EV News China is not replacing EV News Daily. Let me say first up, I’ll be here with the usual global take on the EV industry. Instead, this will be series of bonus shows, which I hope will be essential listening for anyone interested in, or doing business with, the world's electric vehicle superpower.
I wanted to drop a pilot episode to explain my thinking, and what a moment to launch.
China has just reached an historic milestone that changes everything in the global automotive industry.
In May 2025, plugin electric vehicles captured 53% of China's passenger car market – meaning electric vehicles are now outselling traditional gasoline cars for the first time in history.
Think about that for a moment. The world's largest car market has just tipped electric. This isn't a prediction anymore – it's reality.
After 7 years of doing this podcast, pretty much every day apart from some breaks when we had two new additions to our family, or some mental health breaks, I’ve been doing this 7 days a week. And I can’t tell you a time when I’ve been more fascinated about how the rest of the world views the Chinese EV market. And in many cases, how it’s still a blind spot for them.
The Numbers That Matter
Let me put this in perspective with some hard data that business leaders need to understand.
Plugin vehicle sales in China topped one million units in May alone – in a market of 1.9 million total passenger vehicles. That breaks down to 31% pure battery electric vehicles and 22% plug-in hybrids and range extenders.
For the year so far, China has already sold over 4.3 million plugin vehicles, putting the country on track to exceed 10 million units by year-end – in China alone. To put that in global context, that's more than the rest of the world combined.
The leader? BYD dominates with 28.9% of the plugin market, delivering over 376,000 vehicles in May – a 14% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, Tesla's China market share has dropped to just 4.6%, ranking fifth behind Chinese competitors.
The Tesla Reality Check
Speaking of Tesla, the numbers tell a sobering story for Elon Musk's company in China. Tesla sold about 58,000 vehicles in China during April 2025, down 6% from the previous year. More concerning, Tesla's retail sales to Chinese customers in the first eight weeks of Q2 2025 dropped 23% year-over-year.
This reflects a broader trend – Chinese consumers are increasingly choosing domestic brands. Tesla's China market share in the BEV segment fell from 11.15% to 6.36%, while Chinese rivals like XPeng delivered 33,525 vehicles in May, up 230% year-over-year.
The Financial Impact
The financial implications are staggering. BYD doubled its Q1 2025 net profit to 9.15 billion yuan, with operating revenue reaching 170.36 billion yuan, up from 124.94 billion yuan the previous year.
But it's not just about one company. The Chinese EV trio – NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto – are expected to see explosive growth in 2025:
- NIO deliveries expected to double to 450,000 units
- XPeng projected to reach 400,000 units, up 110%
- Li Auto forecasted at 700,000 units, up 40%
These aren't small startups anymore – these are major industrial players reshaping global automotive supply chains.
The Technology Revolution
What's driving this transformation isn't just price – it